In the spring of 2003, we thought we would lose our lovebug :(

During the late winter we noticed that Hannah was putting on weight, but it being winter and the snow being deep in the back yard, we concluded that it was normal weight gain from lack of exercise. 

The weight seemed to be located in the area of her hips. We teased her about being a piggy-wiggy and promised her lots of walks.

Come Easter weekend, I realized there was a problem.

Hannah’s belly had become distended and solid. She was visibly uncomfortable and had stopped eating and when Hannah refuses food, we KNOW something’s wrong.

The initial trip to the veterinarian clinic was discouraging.  X-rays showed what appeared to be “a mass” in her abdomen, and a tumour was suspected. If we had stopped with that diagnosis, we wouldn’t have our beautiful Hannah to love us now.

We went to AVC (Atlantic Veterinary College) and sought the advise of the specialists. Their news was only slightly more encouraging. Their x-rays showed that what had appeared to be “a mass” was in fact, fluid, fluid so dense that it appeared as a solid on the x-rays. They believed that there was a problem with either the spleen or the intestine, and the diagnosis still stood a chance of being a malignancy.

The only way to know was to do a biopsy. And this biopsy would not be minor surgery, as we humans tend to think of it. It was major surgery that could potentially put her body into a trauma. There were inherent risks. But it was the only way to find out for sure what was the condition that was threatening our girl. We consented.

Hannah’s biopsy meant opening her abdomen with an incision that was about 10” long.  The surgeons removed pieces from many areas of her large intestines and from her liver. The diagnosis: Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease is not what so many of us humans call Irritable Bowel Syndrome.  It is much more severe and life threatening.  In human terms, it is more like what we know as Crohn’s Disease.

Hannah recovered well from her surgery considering her age (8 and 1/2) and her weakened condition from the massive amount of fluid that had been in her abdomen. The treatment for this condition is steroids, in large amounts very gradually tapering to a maintenance dosage.

Hannah did not retain fluid post-op, although it was expected that she would. Inflammation had been found in her lower bowel area, and there had been some minor indication of liver involvement. She handled the steroid treatment well, but showed telltale signs of the medications.  After her surgery, her thick fur had matted from laying still in intensive care, and she had to have her fur clipped very short.  Because of the steroid treatment, her fur did not start to grow back for many months. The skin, visible under the short fur, turned dark grey in colour. And the short fur felt dry and brittle.

The second part of Hannah’s post-op treatment was a restrictive diet. We had to find a protein that she likely had never eaten before. Since she had had many homes prior to adopting us, that presented a challenge as we had no way of knowing what her diet had consisted of.

There are some unusual foods available for this very purpose, as I soon found out.... deer meat, moose meat... when the doctor told me, I mistakenly thought I would be making homemade moose meat food for her, and found myself wondering where on earth I was going to find a constant supply of moose meat! But those foods could be found only in canned versions, and the doctors were adamant that she go back to the dry food she had been used to.

So the search began. We found two dry foods locally - Duck and Cracker (yep, you guessed it - made from duck and cracker - go figure!) and salmon and rice. We opted for the salmon and rice meal which Hannah will be eating for the rest of her life.  She loves it! But then, Hannah loves anything that stands still for one minute.

At first we gave her no-protein vegetarian treats, but when we ran out and in an “I’m starving and I will die if I don’t get a cookie” emergency, gave her normal lamb and rice “cookies” we noticed that these had no adverse effect on her. For a while I made homemade dogfood cookies (recipe below), and again had to revert to lamb and rice cookies for a while. Again, there was no adverse effect, and so, Hannah continues to eat salmon dinners and lamb cookies. I frequently give her raw vegetables as treats as well.

Six months post-op, Hannah is living a health and happy life.  She takes a very low dosage steroid every third day, eats her special diet and gets lots of love.  Her fur has now started to grow again, and the grey tones of her skin, noticeable more on her belly and ears than elsewhere are starting to disappear.

We live knowing that any day, the symptoms could reappear, but for the moment, we have it under control and we pray for many more lovebug years to come!

Homemade Dog Food Cookies
- About 6 cups of special diet dry dog food
- Water
Put dog food in a food processor and grind it to a consistency somewhere between an oatmeal consistency and powder. Add water in small amounts until a thick paste is formed. The paste should be the same thickness as an ordinary cookie dough.  Drop by small spoonsful onto an ungreased cookie sheet (aluminum foil oven liners make fabulous cookie sheets and won’t burn the cookies!. With fingers, squeeze the cookies slightly. Bake at 325 for about 25 minutes.  Cool and serve. They look just like oatmeal cookies!